The present invention relates to a new variety of Senecio plant, which originated from the crossing of the cultivar ‘Extra Blue’ (unpatented) as the female parent with a variety of Senecio heritieri as the male parent.
There are many varieties in Senecio L. and Senecio cruentus, well known as Senecio, cultivated in the world. There are many cultivated varieties with capitula of a single color of white, pink red, blue or violet. Some varieties have marginal variegation with off color parts.
The female parent ‘Extra Blue’ used in the crossing that produced ‘Sunsenebabu’ is a cultivar of Senecio cruentus. It is early flowering variety having dwarf and mounding shape with large leaves. It has small single capitula, the ray florets having a vivid purple color. The seed of ‘Extra Blue’ is commercially available.
The male parent Senecio heritieri used in the crossing that produced ‘Sunsenebabu’ is a cultivar having a high and dome-shaped growth habit with abundant branching and small leaves. It has small single capitula, the ray florets having strong purple with vague white center coloration. Senecio heritieri, introduced from nurseries in England, has no variety name and, to Applicant's knowledge, is neither patented nor sold in the United States.
In January 1996, crossing of ‘Extra Blue’ as the female parent and Senecio heritieri as the male parent was conducted at Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. The seedlings obtained from that crossing were grown in pots in glasshouses and evaluated from July 1996. One seedling was selected in view of its growth habit, flower color and flowering time in December 1996. That seedling was propagated by cutting and grown in pots. A trial was carred out in pots from July 1999, at Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunsenebu’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,104) and ‘Miss Yokohama’ (unpatented) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Senecio plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. The new variety of Senecio plant was named ‘Sunsenebabu’.
The new variety was first asexually reproduced by cuttings in Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Jamanashi, Japan.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with The Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S.).